Color slices analysis of land use changes due to urbanization in a city environment of Miami Area, South Florida, USA

Land use maps are widely using all over the world for monitoring the usage of lands over a while when urbanization booms. The urban development of the city environment parallelly involves the quick change of landcover in a short time. This work aims to review the land cover changes in Miami which areone of a highly urbanized county in the USA in the twentieth century. The color patterns of land use maps were reviewed with a uniform temporal rate (5 years once) from 2001 to 2016. Based on the color code of the image, land use maps were visually interpreted and it was extended to the Statistical analysis. Unique formulas are derived from the linear statistical model for the changing rate of the land use type in 15 years. Urban built-up gave expeditious increment in land use (9.5%). In the meantime, agricultural land (5.97%) and water (4.21%) decreased at a rapid rate. At the end of the study, the regression model projects the land use change in the year 2021 in Miami Dade County. This study distinctly exhibits how urbanization affects the vegetation cover, water areas, and wetlands, in which land use classes playing a vital role in the ecosystem. This experiment gives a basic understanding of Miami Dade county development and its environmental impact

Evaluating Urbanization and Spatial-Temporal Pattern Using the DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data: A Case Study in Zhejiang Province

The application of DMSP/OLS nighttime light data provides an effective measure for characterizing urbanization and its spatial-temporal changes. Combined with the social economic statistics and calibrated nighttime data, the nighttime light imagery of Zhejiang province was fully intercalibrated during the period 1992–2013. The backgrounds were explained and the model of region light index (RLI) was built to make further research. The methods of mutation detection, regression analysis, and spatial analysis were adopted in this study. The results show that the urbanization progress of Zhejiang experienced a transformation from rapid development to steady improvement and was accompanied by a changing direction of urban expansion from coastal to inland areas from 2000. Further research indicated that Zhejiang province possessed a relative high level of urbanization, where a spatial pattern of urbanization with one center and four axes was initially formed. It is a novel attempt to investigate the urbanization of Zhejiang province on the basis of the DMSP/OLS night-lighting data, which may provide a significant guideline for the urban planning and development

Understanding the Spatiotemporal Development of Human Settlement in Hurricane-Prone Areas on the US Atlantic and Gulf Coasts Using Nighttime Remote Sensing

Hurricanes, as one of the most devastating natural hazards, have posed a great threat to people in coastal areas. A better understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of human settlement in hurricane-prone areas largely benefits sustainable development. This study uses the nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program\u27s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) to examine human settlement development in areas with different levels of hurricane proneness from 1992 to 2013. The DMSP/OLS NTL data from six satellites were intercalibrated and desaturated with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) optical imagery to derive the Vegetation Adjusted NTL Urban Index (VANUI), a popular index that quantifies human settlement intensity. The derived VANUI time series was examined with the Mann–Kendall test and Theil–Sen test to identify significant spatiotemporal trends. To link the VANUI product to hurricane impacts, four hurricane-prone zones were extracted to represent different levels of hurricane proneness. Aside from geographic division, a wind-speed-weighted track density function was developed and applied to historical storm tracks which originated in the North Atlantic Basin to better categorize the four levels of hurricane proneness. Spatiotemporal patterns of human settlement in the four zones were finally analyzed. The results clearly exhibit a north–south and inland–coastal discrepancy of human settlement dynamics. This study also reveals that both the zonal extent and zonal increase rate of human settlement positively correlate with hurricane proneness levels. The intensified human settlement in high hurricane-exposure zones deserves further attention for coastal resilience

Understanding the Spatiotemporal Development of Human Settlement in Hurricane-Prone Areas on the Us Atlantic and Gulf Coasts Using Nighttime Remote Sensing

Hurricanes, as one of the most devastating natural hazards, have posed a great threat to people in coastal areas. A better understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of human settlement in hurricane-prone areas largely benefits sustainable development. This study uses the nighttime light (NTL) data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) to examine human settlement development in areas with different levels of hurricane proneness from 1992 to 2013. The DMSP/OLS NTL data from six satellites were intercalibrated and desaturated with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) optical imagery to derive the Vegetation Adjusted NTL Urban Index (VANUI), a popular index that quantifies human settlement intensity. The derived VANUI time series was examined with the Mann– Kendall test and Theil–Sen test to identify significant spatiotemporal trends. To link the VANUI product to hurricane impacts, four hurricane-prone zones were extracted to represent different levels of hurricane proneness. Aside from geographic division, a wind-speed-weighted track density function was developed and applied to historical storm tracks which originated in the North Atlantic Basin to better categorize the four levels of hurricane proneness. Spatiotemporal patterns of human settlement in the four zones were finally analyzed. The results clearly exhibit a north–south and inland–coastal discrepancy of human settlement dynamics. This study also reveals that both the zonal extent and zonal increase rate of human settlement positively correlate with hurricane proneness levels. The intensified human settlement in high hurricane-exposure zones deserves further attention for coastal resilience

Картирование ВВП и ППС на субнациональном уровне на основе спутниковых снимков территории стран Восточной Европы и СНГ

Following the line of research, originated from the paper by Henderson et al. (2012), this article focuses on how "observations from the above", in the form of night-lights satellite data, might contribute in mapping at very fine geographical level (ideally, one square km), two core macroeconomic indicators used extensively in the Sustainable Development Goals monitoring and reporting framework: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs). Recent empirical economic studies have paid increasing attention on the association between night-lights observations and economic growth, in order to estimate a consistent and objective level of economic activities at subnational level. In the present paper, analyses are carried out on a panel of 17 Eastern Europe and CIS countries for the period 2000-2013 and use is made of indicators constructed from satellite images in the form of night lights, as processed by the US Department of Defense, and its Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's OperationalLinescan System. Estimations of GDP in current US dollars and PPP terms are carried out at both national and sub-national level, and results are compared with the official available information. Estimates of GDP and PPP were also compared, at national level, with those in the World Bank data-set, showing similar behaviours. Results are used to obtain gridded maps of GDPs and PPPs

Is night-time light intensity associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors among adults in early-stage urbanisation in South India? A cross-sectional study of the Andhra Pradesh children and parents study

Objectives To explore associations of night-time light intensity (NTLI), a novel proxy for continuous urbanisation levels, with mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), body mass index (BMI), fasting serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and fasting plasma glucose (FPG), among adults in early-stage urbanisation in Telangana, South India. Design Cross-sectional analysis of the third wave of the Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study cohort. Setting 28 villages representing a continuum of urbanisation levels, ranging from rural settlement to medium-sized town in Telangana, South India. Participants Data were available from 6944 participants, 6236 of whom were eligible after excluding pregnant women, participants younger than 18 years of age and participants missing data for age. Participants were excluded if they did not provide fasting blood samples, had implausible or missing outcome values, were medicated for hypertension or diabetes or had triglyceride levels invalidating derived LDL. The analysis included 5924 participants for BMI, 5752 participants for SBP, 5287 participants for LDL and 5328 participants for FPG. Results Increasing NTLI was positively associated with mean BMI, SBP and LDL but not FPG. Adjusted mean differences across the range of village-level NTLI were 1.0 kg/m2 (95% CI 0.01 to 1.9) for BMI; 4.2 mm Hg (95% CI 1.0 to 7.4) for SBP; 0.3 mmol/L (95% CI −0.01 to 0.7) for LDL; and −0.01 mmol/L (95% CI −0.4 to 0.4) for FPG. Associations of NTLI with BMI and SBP were stronger in older age groups. Conclusion The association of NTLI with cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors identify NTLI as a potentially important tool for exploring urbanisation-related health. Consistent associations of moderate increases in urbanisation levels with important CVD risk factors warrant prevention strategies to curb expected large public health impacts from continued and rapid urbanisation in India

An Internet-Based GIS Platform Providing Data for Visualization and Spatial Analysis of Urbanization in Major Asian and African Cities

Rapid urbanization in developing countries has been observed to be relatively high in the last two decades, especially in the Asian and African regions. Although many researchers have made efforts to improve the understanding of the urbanization trends of various cities in Asia and Africa, the absence of platforms where local stakeholders can visualize and obtain processed urbanization data for their specific needs or analysis, still remains a gap. In this paper, we present an Internet-based GIS platform called MEGA-WEB. The Platform was developed in view of the urban planning and management challenges in developing countries of Asia and Africa due to the limited availability of data resources, effective tools, and proficiency in data analysis. MEGA-WEB provides online access, visualization, spatial analysis, and data sharing services following a mashup framework of the MEGA-WEB Geo Web Services (GWS), with the third-party map services using HTML5/JavaScript techniques. Through the integration of GIS, remote sensing, geo-modelling, and Internet GIS, several indicators for analyzing urbanization are provided in MEGA-WEB to give diverse perspectives on the urbanization of not only the physical land surface condition, but also the relationships of population, energy use, and the environment. The design, architecture, system functions, and uses of MEGA-WEB are discussed in the paper. The MEGA-WEB project is aimed at contributing to sustainable urban development in developing countries of Asia and Africa

Mapping and Evaluating the Urbanization Process in Northeast China Using DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data

In this paper, an Urban Light Index (ULI) is constructed to facilitate analysis and quantitative evaluation of the process of urbanization and expansion rate by using DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data during the years from 1992 to 2010. A unit circle urbanization evaluation model is established to perform a comprehensive analysis of the urbanization process of 34 prefecture-level cities in Northeast China. Furthermore, the concept of urban light space is put forward. In this study, urban light space is divided into four types: the core urban area, the transition zone between urban and suburban areas, suburban area and fluorescent space. Proceeding from the temporal and spatial variation of the four types of light space, the pattern of morphologic change and space-time evolution of the four principal cities in Northeast China (Harbin, Changchun, Shenyang, Dalian) is analyzed and given particular attention. Through a correlation analysis between ULI and the traditional urbanization indexes (urban population, proportion of the secondary and tertiary industries in the regional GDP and the built-up area), the advantages and disadvantages as well as the feasibility of using the ULI in the study of urbanization are evaluated. The research results show that ULI has a strong correlation with urban built-up area (R2 ＝ 0.8277). The morphologic change and history of the evolving urban light space can truly reflect the characteristics of urban sprawl. The results also indicate that DMSP/OLS Nighttime Light Data is applicable for extracting urban space information and has strong potential to urbanization research

Influences of place of residence on risk factors for atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases in South India

There has been much debate about the role of place of residence (rural vs. urban) on non-communicable disease outcomes but the potential pathways are relatively poorly quantified. This PhD explores the links between place of residence and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in rapidly urbanising India in three connected research papers. The first paper systematically reviewed the available published evidence on the associations of engaging in agriculture with CVD incidence and prevalence and CVD risk factors in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The review included 15 observational studies, and high-quality evidence was lacking. Thirteen studies from five LMICs suggested that agricultural workers living in rural areas had a lower prevalence of some important CVD risk factors (hypertension and high body mass index [BMI]) but higher prevalence of others (smoking and underweight) than non-agricultural workers mainly living in urban areas. Building on these initial findings, the second paper estimated the association of urbanisation level with a range of CVD risk factors using data from the third wave of the Andhra Pradesh Children and Parents Study (APCAPS) (n=6236). Remote sensing night-time light intensity (NTLI) data (unitless digital numbers) provided a continuous proxy measure of levels of urbanisation for 27 APCAPS villages. Mixed-effects linear regression models with log-transformed NTLI were used in analysis. Increasing NTLI was associated with rises in mean BMI and systolic blood pressure (SBP), but not low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG), after adjusting for confounders and these increases were greater among participants aged above 40 years. Using this dataset in the third research paper, the total effect of increasing urbanisation level on mean SBP was decomposed into direct and indirect effects via hypothesised pathways. Mediation analysis was performed using mixed-effects linear regression models for SBP, log-transformed NTLI (that ranged from 4.1 to 7.0) and three composite mediators summarising (i) socio-demographic (e.g. occupation and education), (ii) lifestyle, mental health (e.g. diet and depression), and (iii) metabolic factors (e.g. BMI and LDL). All models were gender-stratified and adjusted for age and other confounders. Mean SBP was 122.7mmHg (±15.7) among men and 115.8mmHg (±14.2) among women. A one unit (integer) increase in log-NTLI was associated with a rise in SBP by 2.0mmHg (95% CI 0.4, 3.5) among men and 1.3mmHg (95% CI 0.006, 2.6) among women. A considerable indirect effect via the metabolic pathway elevated SBP among men by 4.6mmHg (95% CI 2.0, 7.3) and a smaller SBP rise among women by 0.7mmHg (95% CI 0.1, 1.3) per one log-NTLI increase. Among men, but not women, NTLI 4 acted indirectly via the lifestyle and mental health pathway to elevate SBP by 0.7mmHg (95% CI 0.1, 1.3) per one log-NTLI increase. The total effect among both genders and the indirect effect via metabolic factors among men approximately doubled among participants aged above 40 years. This PhD identified night-time light intensity as a potentially important continuous proxy indicator of urbanisation levels in India and formally tested potential causal pathways linking urbanisation level with CVD risk factors. Increasing level of urbanisation was associated with greater mean SBP and BMI at early stages of urbanisation in South India. The findings offer new insights into possible pathways through which urbanisation may act on CVD risk factors. Pathways via metabolic factors independent of socio-demographic, lifestyle and mental health factors emerged as particularly interesting. These findings identified a need to understand better the indirect effects of urbanisation-related upstream determinants on CVD risk factors in India, independent of socio-demographic, lifestyle and mental health factors. Mediation analysis may be a useful approach to inform strategies to mitigate the expected large public health and economic impacts from continued, rapid urbanisation in India. I recommend implementing and scaling available, evidence-based, population-wide, primordial prevention strategies in India that target upstream determinants to modify behavioural risk factors for NCDs. In line with WHO’s best buys for NCD prevention and recommendations of the WHO and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, strategies could include (but are not limited to), advertisement restriction, health promotion campaigns; taxation of alcohol, petrol and food content; improved enforcement of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act and shifts to low-emission transport options. Evaluation of the ongoing Smart City Mission could identify innovative and effective interventions for cleaner, greener, and more environmentally sustainable urban development throughout India. In order to tackle expected rises in CVDs with urbanisation in India (and elsewhere in LMICs), I further call for a new interdisciplinary urbanisation science and collaborations to scale-up national surveillance systems and periodical surveys on environment, demographics, phyco-social factors and NCDs